


How to Come Out to Your Best Friend

by mothereffingparis



Series: Balth and Pedro [1]
Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 15:52:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2587178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothereffingparis/pseuds/mothereffingparis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Bath and Pedro come out to each other, with the help of footballs and music store guys. Set before nmtd.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Come Out to Your Best Friend

He always knew Balthy was gay. Pedro had known since sometime around year nine. It wasn’t like he found incriminating magazines under Balth’s guitar or anything obvious like that. But Pedro was very observant. When that handsome guy in their English class walked by, Balthazar’s eyes would follow. When the guys talked about what they liked about girls, Balth mostly stayed silent and nodded. 

The two of them were lying on their backs on the grass of the football pitch that summer when it came up. One minute the two friends were enjoying the summer breeze and the smell of mown grass, Pedro tossing a football over his head every so often and catching it, then Balth sat up suddenly. 

“Pedro, I … I need to tell you something.” He said, sounding out of breath. Pedro sat up slightly, putting all of his weight on his elbows. He looked steadily at Balth, who refused to meet his gaze, waiting for him to continue. 

There was something about the way Balth was fidgeting in his too-large sweater that distracted him. Pedro couldn’t remember a time when he’d seen Balth this bent up out of shape about something. His fingers were drumming along his upper leg like piano keys like they always did when he was really nervous. Then Balthazar itched at his neck, playing with the scarf tied securely around his neck, and Pedro just barely made out a little red splotch on the corner of his collarbone.

The moment he noticed it, Pedro smirked and sat back down. He cleared his throat. “So, how’s Nathan?” He asked, resuming his practice of throwing the football over his head and catching it. 

Balthazar froze. Pedro heard him gulp loudly. “Nathan … from our English class?” He asked hesitantly, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer. Pedro threw the ball up.

“Yeah.” He caught the ball again and looked over at Balthazar for the first time in a while. Balth looked anxious and pale. Pedro rolled on the grass onto his stomach, resting his chin on the ball. “He’s been hitting on you for, like, a year bro. Tell me you finally did something about it. Or.” Pedro raised a deft eyebrow and smirked as he pointed to the red splotch. “Or you might need to find a doctor, Balthy. That rash looks like it could be really contagious.” 

“Huh.” Was all Balth said in response. He was silent for a moment, like he was trying to gage Pedro’s expression. Pedro stared back in all earnest. 

Pedro coughed into his hand, trying to diffuse the awkwardness. “So … are you guys dating or-“

“No.” Balth said quickly, turning a little pink. He self-consciously tightened his scarf around his neck. “And I never even said anything about Natha-“

“Pshh don’t worry. Like I’d tell anyone. Not unless you wanted me to.” 

“Oh.”

“Wait.” A thought suddenly occurred to Pedro. He sat up, finally meeting Balthazar at eye level. “You honestly thought I would out him like that? Out you like that?” He nudged Balthy playfully. “No way, man.” 

A moment of silence lapsed between the two of them. None of them acknowledged it. But in that instant, which seemed to go one forever, both of them knew without a shadow of a doubt that Balthazar was gay and that Pedro was … totally cool with it. 

Balth hesitated for a moment before he smiled good naturedly and fell back onto his back. “Well … that’s … that’s good.”

“Good.” Pedro said, lying back as well. 

“Because I really like him.” 

Pedro didn’t know what to say. All of a sudden his chest got tight at the thought of his friend holding this secret for so long. Pedro couldn’t even find the words to say anything supportive or helpful. He threw the ball over his head again. Up. Down. Up. Down. 

“Good.” He finally said. “Wanna get some ice cream?”

“Sure.”

And that was it. 

 

******

 

Balth’s relationship with Nathan hadn’t exactly ended on friendly terms. But, a year later, at least he could say he was out to everyone. Pedro knew he didn’t have that luxury. 

It was all that record shop guy’s fault. He caught Pedro on a bad day when he was distracted and knocked the wind out of him. Made him freeze up and act all awkward. That sort of shit didn’t … happen to Pedro Donaldson. He was proud of his ability to easily make friends with people and make them come out of their shells. He didn’t get flustered by a stranger walking up behind him. 

It didn’t take him a long time to figure out what it was. Pedro liked that guy. That nerdy, alternative, record store assistant guy with the spikey hair and adorable smile. But … he also liked girls. Like, really liked girls. He’d been in relationships with girls. Done stuff with girls. Stuff that he liked and encouraged. Girls were hot, guys were … just also not unattractive. Objectively speaking. 

But sexuality was complicated. Or at least that’s what Balth always said whenever he had his heart broken by another dumbass boy experimenting. Despite knowing that Balth would be okay with everything and understand as best as he could – maybe more than anyone else – Pedro waited a few weeks after the record store incident to tell him. 

The two of them were sitting on Pedro’s bed after a round of Super Smash Bros. Pedro threw his controller on the bed next to him and stretched his arms over his head, feeling especially confident after winning that round in an impressive style. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Balthazar said, throwing his controller beside Pedro’s and crossing his legs on Pedro’s bed. “That last one was a lucky shot.” He picked up the ukulele sitting next to him and started strumming something.

“You wish, Kirby.” Pedro laughed. He thought about it for half a millisecond before continuing. “Hey, Balth. Can I ask you something?”

Balthazar was still strumming, not really listening. Then he noticed that Pedro had asked him something and put the uke down on his lap. “Go for it.”

“Do you think it’s possible … I mean … from what you’ve … done or … seen or heard or whatever.” Pedro ran a hand through his hair, fully messing it up so that it covered his whole face, until he put it back in place. “I mean.” He sighed. “I just … do you think it’s possible to not be a two-faced dick. And like … girls and guys. Like both of them. But not be one of those dicks like Nathan who only does it to experiment or whatever.” 

Poor Balth’s eyes got wide and then he looked away. Pedro thanked him for that. His heart was still beating quickly. He almost couldn’t believe that he’d managed to get up the courage to actually put it in words. He’d tried to say it as nonchalantly as possible, but he was afraid it didn’t come off that way. 

Pedro chuckled lightly, trying to diffuse the awkwardness. “I mean, I’m just curious, ya know? I really am just curious if that’s even a thing. I’m not saying … saying I-“

“Yeah.” Balth said suddenly, quietly, interrupting Pedro’s rehearsed monologue. “Yeah you can.” He looked up at Pedro again, almost defiantly. “Just because I seem to only date the jerks doesn’t mean bisexuals don’t exist.”

Pedro let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. The triumphant Super Smash Bros music was still playing in the background. It felt patronizing at that exact moment, so Pedro muted it. When he turned back to face Balth, he noticed Balthy was looking at him hesitantly. 

“Yeah, okay.” Pedro said, finally. “Because it’s really not a big deal. I’m still gonna date chicks and whatever. Besides, it was probably just a one-off thing. Fucking record store guy.”

“Record … store … guy?” Balth said, sounding like he wanted to laugh. Pedro appreciated it. The more lighthearted this conversation went, the better.

“Yeah.” Pedro sat up straighter on the bed. “And if it’s not, I don’t really care. Chicks are cool. Guys are cool. We’re … all cool.”

“Er, cool.” Balth said, nodding with a smile. 

“I didn’t mean to … er … make it weird or anything.” Pedro said, suddenly. “I just thought you, like, had some experience with this kind of thing. We can forget about it. It’s fine.” 

Balth shook his head. “No, don’t forget about it. That’s not healthy.” He paused before continuing in his soft, calculated manner. “So you’re bi. If that’s how you want to identify, that’s cool. Sexuality is a spectrum. It’s complicated. Maybe it was every girl in the world plus this one rando record store guy, you said? Yeah. Don’t sweat it.”

“But … but it’s not just…” There was that guy on the bus the other day. And John who sat next to them in Bio. Pedro wanted to say more, but he had to stop. He heard Balth’s breath catch and he really didn’t want to say anything that would make things weird between them. 

“Okay, I’m bi.” Pedro said, more firmly this time. “But that’s just a small part of it. I’m still Pedro Donaldson, I’m still a football player and … and gamecube player and friend and brother and … yeah.”

Pedro was too embarrassed to look to his side, but he could have sworn Balth was smiling. “Exactly. All good, Pedro.”

Then it was silent for a moment. “Wanna play another round?” Balth asked.

Pedro let out a huge sigh of relief. “I thought you’d never ask.”

After that, it’s not so much that Pedro doesn’t “come out” to everyone. It’s just that everyone assumes and no one ever asks.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp so this got really personal. This is going to be part of a series, hopefully. So while there won't be another chapter, I'll add more to this "universe" when I get the time. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


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